postpartum chat april 5-11

[wendy1163]

whew! we are due for a new thread here, I do believe. too much scrolling for me!

things at our house are good. cora is two weeks old. bfing is going great, I have mastered the ring sling (hooray!), and my mom comes today for a whole week! mostly I am glad she will be here for ds's sake. he has been fantastic (he's 21 months), but I want to be sure he is getting all the attention and fun stuff he deserves.

ohhhh the warm weather is making all the difference in my world. I think I would be struggling big time if I had a newborn and a toddler and there was still snow on the ground. I am so thankful to be able to st on the porch and take walks and see neighbors around the neighborhood as well. hooray spring!

[Plummeting]

You are so lucky to have some helpful family coming! My sister came and she's a sweetheart. She cooked dinner one night and swept the floors and things, but while she was here she gave me a TON of her DD's old clothes and now they're all over the floor in one room while I figure out where to put them all, since they're not all going to fit right now. That room is totally stressing me out. lol I'm very thankful for the clothes, though.

I recovered from my awful bout of mastitis, thank goodness! Whew, I was SICK for a few days there. The last time I was that sick was when I had a nasty case of the flu 10 years ago. Ugh. My midwife gave me poke root tincture and I took echinacea and vitamin c. Hot showers and massage just weren't enough. I also have oversupply problems, I believe. I did w/dd1 and the symptoms seem similar now - diaper rash just where the poop touches on the way out, choking, gasping, pulling off, and clicking while nursing, occasional green, foamy, and/or mucousy stools, dd seems like she has some tummy pain, etc. I'm trying my best to manage it, but this is nervous territory for me, since obviously I don't want to reduce my supply too much - especially given that we're only 2 weeks in. I'll probably go to an LC, since I found one so helpful last time. Sigh. I know it's better than not enough milk, but it still sucks.

[josie423]

I've never had mastitis, but it sounds horrible! Hope you are all better soon and get the supply issue figured out.

The warm weather and sunshine have helped the baby blues tremendously this time around. I have officially decided I don't want another winter baby (DS and DD were born in November and January)!

Things are going pretty well here. Still bleeding, which I know would probably go away if I rested more, but it seems there is just too much to do with 3 under 2.5.

Nursing is going well, and DD is sleeping great. Well, by my standards she is sleeping well! She nurses at least 5 times a night but I don't mind at all as she goes right back to sleep and and doesn't wake up until at least 8.

I can't believe my little girl is already 16 days old!

[Lilcrunchie]

Originally Posted by Plummeting

YI also have oversupply problems, I believe. I did w/dd1 and the symptoms seem similar now - diaper rash just where the poop touches on the way out, choking, gasping, pulling off, and clicking while nursing, occasional green, foamy, and/or mucousy stools, dd seems like she has some tummy pain, etc. I'm trying my best to manage it, but this is nervous territory for me, since obviously I don't want to reduce my supply too much - especially given that we're only 2 weeks in. I'll probably go to an LC, since I found one so helpful last time. Sigh. I know it's better than not enough milk, but it still sucks.

I've had overactive letdown with all of my kiddos. We have the clicking, choking, sputtering, etc here too. DS regained his birth weight by day 4 post partum and at 2 weeks of age is up to over 10 lbs (started at 9 lbs even, went down to 8 lbs 7oz by day 2-3?).

Kellymom has some positioning ideas like "australian style" nursing but that can lead to plugged ducts, which coming off of mastitis, you definitely don't want! (glad you are feeling better BTW! I had it with my oldest...not fun!). There are some other positioning ideas on there too (basically minimizing gravity to slow the flow a bit).

If you see an LC, I'd love to know any suggestions. My kids all figured it out eventually. My oldest had very rapid weight gain and would only nurse for 5 mins total (that totally freaked me out as a first timer...I kept trying to get him to nurse longer in those early weeks thinking he was going to starve and then he'd vomit . My 2nd child had raging tummy pain, etc. from 6-9 pm every single night from 2-6 weeks of age...gripe water, etc. didn't do anything to help. I am not sure if that was due to OAL or just "colic" but it wasn't fun. Baby #3 is just definitely dealing w/ choking, sputtering, clicking, etc. and again the very rapid weight gain. Sometimes he seems frustrated he can't "comfort nurse". I haven't used pacis with any of my kids but sometimes wonder if it would him to have the ability to comfort suck. I still nurse my 3 yo before bed so he enjoys when she tanks up and then he *can* comfort nurse a bit afterward.

anyway, glad you are feeling better.

[catchthewind]

Originally Posted by Plummeting

I recovered from my awful bout of mastitis, thank goodness! Whew, I was SICK for a few days there. The last time I was that sick was when I had a nasty case of the flu 10 years ago. Ugh. My midwife gave me poke root tincture and I took echinacea and vitamin c. Hot showers and massage just weren't enough. I also have oversupply problems, I believe. I did w/dd1 and the symptoms seem similar now - diaper rash just where the poop touches on the way out, choking, gasping, pulling off, and clicking while nursing, occasional green, foamy, and/or mucousy stools, dd seems like she has some tummy pain, etc. I'm trying my best to manage it, but this is nervous territory for me, since obviously I don't want to reduce my supply too much - especially given that we're only 2 weeks in. I'll probably go to an LC, since I found one so helpful last time. Sigh. I know it's better than not enough milk, but it still sucks.

I'm with you there. I'd much prefer oversupply to undersupply too, but I don't think people realize how frustrating/painful it can be. Have you heard of block feeding? That's what I did last time and have been doing this time and it really really helps. You basically nurse only on one side at a time. So for minor oversupply issues, you might nurse on one side each feed. Some people will do two feeds on each side. Some people do times (this is what I do since my oversupply is pretty insane). I try and aim for about 4 hours each side, but if it wasn't for engorgement issues, I could probably easily do 6-12 hours each side and still have more than enough milk. Anyway, block feeding helps because your breast that isn't being nursed off of will stop producing as much milk. Also, the breast your baby is using won't replenish the foremilk each time, so baby will get more hindmilk. (Too much foremilk is normally what causes the green, foamy poops.)

I love having a toddler this time around, I must say. I think DD2 has it much better off, since her big sister can nurse first and then after I've let down I can put the baby on and she'll be getting more hindmilk and less of the crazy let down.

Here's some more info from the LLL website:
http://www.llli.org/FAQ/oversupply.html

[MiaMama]

I have had a doozy of a time PP this time around. I have been weepy, getting migraines, nausea, belly pain, insomnia (OMG its crazy to look around at 3am, and my husband, toddler, AND newborn are all sleeping... but not me).

Then at 7 days PP, I pulled out a roughly 13 in by 5 in piece of retained membranes.

At 14 days PP, large clots, and what looked like a bit more membranes and a small bit of maybe placenta came out. I am hoping this was the last of it, and my hormones can stabilize a bit. My belly doesn't hurt anymore, and I can walk now.

Ugg, is this my payment for no tearing at birth? Something had to hurt after, right?

Sorry to be such a downer.

[Snapdragon]

oh my goodness. My boy is 18 days old or so and still not named. I feel so bad!!! I want to name him and have a whole 5 pg thread about this in the Feb ddc but cannot make a bleeping decision! The boy needs a name for so many reasons and all our family thinks we are nuts for not naming him yet! It is too long IMO too, but I can't even settle on a short list much less one. Going nuts with this.
what did you name your baby boy?

[ciga]

Originally Posted by Katie34

oh my goodness. My boy is 18 days old or so and still not named. I feel so bad!!! I want to name him and have a whole 5 pg thread about this in the Feb ddc but cannot make a bleeping decision! The boy needs a name for so many reasons and all our family thinks we are nuts for not naming him yet! It is too long IMO too, but I can't even settle on a short list much less one. Going nuts with this.
what did you name your baby boy?

Don't feel so bad, my parents didn't name me for a full month and then ended up settling on naming me after my mom.
My son's name is Ruben Emile but our short list included
Emery (my grandfather)
Hayward (my husband's middle)
Doyle
Henry
and some others I can't remember

As for our house, things are going well. I had a lot of tearing and a rough labor so I'm still healing and spending a lot of time lying down. Luckily my incredible mother has been here since two days PP to help. She holds the baby, she feeds us, she washes the diapers (and everything else), and did I mention she feeds us. She's here til early next week and I'm already getting nervous about what I'll do without her though deep down I know we'll be just fine and I'll be much more healed and functional by then.

Ruben is a total champion nurser and there have been no real issues there beyond me consistently forgetting which side he was on last.
He has had a few nights in a row of ~3 hour long nearly inconsolable crying stints which have gotten harder since my husband came down with a sinus thing that I pray we don't get. It is like he is totally exhausted and almost falls asleep and then shakes it off to start crying again. It is so sad to watch.

[LittleLegos]

Hi Mamas!

My baby is 8 days old and things have been going well. I was borderline very engorged for three days...was a little worried about that. I'm nursing on just one breast and didn't want to have a problem. But it seems to have settled out just fine. She'll nurse, burp, pee, then nurse again on the one. We're doing EC too and she's doing really well. Seems so relieved to use the potty most times.

My oldest had an issue which landed us in urgent care on Sun and a trip to the ED. Fortunately he wasn't in terrible pain or life threatening...but boy did it do a number on my emotions. My dh and I were there with the baby too and she did great. DH just sanitized everything I was about to touch. It did seem a little strange that she was born at home and at 6 days we're at a hospital... I'm realizing that having more kids gives a mom more to worry about.

Baby is sleeping well and seems to have settled a bit. She was crying more in the first few days than now. She's very alert too. We'll see how week 2 goes.

Still have SI joint pain...which is really bad sometimes, especially after walking all over the hospital. I really hope it will settle down and stay put after my next adjustment Fri. I keep thinking it pops out again because I'm still under the influence of the pregnancy relaxing hormones? Any ideas?

Amy

[Plummeting]

Originally Posted by MiaMama

I have had a doozy of a time PP this time around. I have been weepy, getting migraines, nausea, belly pain, insomnia (OMG its crazy to look around at 3am, and my husband, toddler, AND newborn are all sleeping... but not me).

Then at 7 days PP, I pulled out a roughly 13 in by 5 in piece of retained membranes.

At 14 days PP, large clots, and what looked like a bit more membranes and a small bit of maybe placenta came out. I am hoping this was the last of it, and my hormones can stabilize a bit. My belly doesn't hurt anymore, and I can walk now.

Ugg, is this my payment for no tearing at birth? Something had to hurt after, right?

Sorry to be such a downer.

You don't have to apologize! That sounds really difficult!!! I had terrible PPD/OCD after DD1. PPD is so, so, so hard. I have been lucky so far this time *knockonwood* but last night was a rough one for me, too. New baby (DD2) cluster fed from around 6 pm until around 7:45, took a short nap, then continued from around 8:30 to about 1:00. My nipples were so sore and she was just crying or fussing every time she popped off, which was often. At about 12:00 I finally had to give her to DH and leave the room for 5 or 10 minutes. She cried for several of them and I felt terrible because I knew she wanted to nurse, but I was at that point that I just had to walk away for a few minutes, cry, then start over.

RE: the oversupply issues...with DD1 the LC had me do block feeding and I also had insane oversupply, so I would go 8 hours usually. That worked eventually and we were able to get on a slightly more normal schedule, although we couldn't nurse both sides until she was waaaayyy past the newborn stage. I don't remember when, but it was past 6 months. I can tell the problem isn't nearly so bad this time, and in fact I'm not even quite sure if it's oversupply or just oal, which is why I want to see an LC again. I think oversupply, because she never wants the second breast, except for last night when she was cluster feeding...and I paid for that this morning. My breasts are ridiculously sensitive and they took the hint that they needed to make four times as much milk as normal when she nursed so much last night, so this morning they were both ridiculously engorged. So I guess that means I do have oversupply? I just don't like trying to figure that stuff out on my own. Sigh.

[Lilcrunchie]

Yeah, I'm not sure if I have OAL or oversupply or both. I remember with my oldest it could/would squirt like 5 feet across a room sometimes LOL (although I haven't had that problem with the last two babies thankfully!). I've been trying to "block feed" as well. Not sure how much it is helping yet.

Our little guy saw the doc for the first time today (he's 2.5 weeks old now). We see a great family practice doc. It was a looong visit (they never take you on time, etc. but he's a great doc so we deal ) but my parents kept the older two kids which was helpful, and DH went with me so he could do the paperwork, etc. and I could keep the little guy in the car with me until they were ready (they don't have sick/well waiting rooms). He's up to 10 lbs 6 oz (was 9lbs at birth).

We've been dealing w/ "eye goop" since like his first full day out of the womb. He gets gooey eyes and they crust. I've been doing breastmilk in them, etc. Doc said we can do drops or wait. I feel badly for my little guy as I'm forever wiping eye boogers out of his eyes and they are soooo crusty in the morning. We declined erythromycin so now I'm feeling like maybe it is my fault this time around or something The other kids never had a problem...DS had erythro in the hospital. We declined erythromycin with DD at a freestandinb birth center, no problems. Not keen on doing antibiotic eye drops, but I'm sick of the crusty eyes. It can't be fun for him either...we wipe them with a damp cloth a few times a day.

I'm going to try doing breastmilk more often. Was glad the doc actually *suggested* that before I could even say anything

eta:i've read blocked tear ducts can cause the goopies and massage can help. Have been doing that too. Doc thinks it isn't blocked tear ducts...said his vessels are more visible than typical...but I don't see it. His eyes don't look red at all to me or anything. he had one ruptured vessel in his eye at birth that has pretty much gone away and I wonder if the doc saw that (forgot to mention the vessel since it was a non issue, kwim?). I don't see any redness or anything at all when I look at his eyes. Not even vessels other than the healing one.

[gardenmommy]

Originally Posted by Katie34

oh my goodness. My boy is 18 days old or so and still not named. I feel so bad!!! I want to name him and have a whole 5 pg thread about this in the Feb ddc but cannot make a bleeping decision! The boy needs a name for so many reasons and all our family thinks we are nuts for not naming him yet! It is too long IMO too, but I can't even settle on a short list much less one. Going nuts with this.
what did you name your baby boy?

I am so glad to hear this!! We still haven't named our DD, although I think we are close.


I've been feeling so overwhelmed with all the older DC's needs and whatnot. DH has been helping a little, but the problem is that he is it where his business is concerned, so he has no choice but to work every day. Which means I am on my own for most of the time with all 5. Plus, I realized I have a super busy day tomorrow, and two OT appts. on Friday for my older kids. It's all feeling a bit much to me right now.

On the bright side, DD is nursing like a champ. She is such a tiny perfect little peanut, but she won't be tiny for long, at the rate she is eating. Such a sweet little one!

[MiaMama]

Originally Posted by Lilcrunchie

We've been dealing w/ "eye goop" since like his first full day out of the womb. He gets gooey eyes and they crust. I've been doing breastmilk in them, etc. Doc said we can do drops or wait. I feel badly for my little guy as I'm forever wiping eye boogers out of his eyes and they are soooo crusty in the morning. We declined erythromycin so now I'm feeling like maybe it is my fault this time around or something The other kids never had a problem...DS had erythro in the hospital. We declined erythromycin with DD at a freestandinb birth center, no problems. Not keen on doing antibiotic eye drops, but I'm sick of the crusty eyes. It can't be fun for him either...we wipe them with a damp cloth a few times a day.

Both my DDs had very crusty eyes.... one had the erythromycin and the other didn't. So I don't think you should second guess yourself. We didn't do anything for DD1 and they cleared up after a bit, so we are waiting it out with DD2.

[wendy1163]

Originally Posted by Lilcrunchie

We've been dealing w/ "eye goop" since like his first full day out of the womb. He gets gooey eyes and they crust. I've been doing breastmilk in them, etc. Doc said we can do drops or wait. I feel badly for my little guy as I'm forever wiping eye boogers out of his eyes and they are soooo crusty in the morning. We declined erythromycin so now I'm feeling like maybe it is my fault this time around or something The other kids never had a problem...DS had erythro in the hospital. We declined erythromycin with DD at a freestandinb birth center, no problems. Not keen on doing antibiotic eye drops, but I'm sick of the crusty eyes. It can't be fun for him either...we wipe them with a damp cloth a few times a day.

I'm going to try doing breastmilk more often. Was glad the doc actually *suggested* that before I could even say anything

eta:i've read blocked tear ducts can cause the goopies and massage can help. Have been doing that too. Doc thinks it isn't blocked tear ducts...said his vessels are more visible than typical...but I don't see it. His eyes don't look red at all to me or anything. he had one ruptured vessel in his eye at birth that has pretty much gone away and I wonder if the doc saw that (forgot to mention the vessel since it was a non issue, kwim?). I don't see any redness or anything at all when I look at his eyes. Not even vessels other than the healing one.

we had the goop with new baby, too. breastmilk in the eye helped, but the massage of the tear duct (press in the corner of the eye out towards the nose) did the trick. much better all around after a day or two. hope it helps at your house as well. oh,and we did not do the eye stuff at birth with this one, either. so no need to beat yourself up about that!

[wendy1163]

Originally Posted by ciga

Ruben is a total champion nurser and there have been no real issues there beyond me consistently forgetting which side he was on last.
He has had a few nights in a row of ~3 hour long nearly inconsolable crying stints which have gotten harder since my husband came down with a sinus thing that I pray we don't get. It is like he is totally exhausted and almost falls asleep and then shakes it off to start crying again. It is so sad to watch.

a rubber band on the wrist works for me when it comes to remembering which side to feed on. have you tried that?

[Lilcrunchie]

Thanks mamas. I am going to increase the number of times a day I do the breastmilk and hope it passes soon. It doesn't look worse to me but it is sure annoying (for him and us!). Poor guy. He's 2.5 weeks and we're still dealing with it!

[VegMomma]

Originally Posted by Lilcrunchie

Thanks mamas. I am going to increase the number of times a day I do the breastmilk and hope it passes soon. It doesn't look worse to me but it is sure annoying (for him and us!). Poor guy. He's 2.5 weeks and we're still dealing with it!

DS2 had goopy eyes, and, while they did go away, I think goopy eyes are just part of his constitution. Whenever he gets a cold, his eyes still get goopy crusty.

Hopefully your little guy is goop-free soon!!

Oh, and DS2 did have the anti-biotics (in hospital) fwiw.

[Juvysen]

Huh... I wonder if i have a bit of oversupply as well... Avery does pull off while nursing, lets milk dribble out, and also ends up coughing and sputtering. He had one green poop when my milk first came in, but it just was green in color, not mucusy or foamy, etc...

After the green poo, I started block feeding - I had done this with the other two - DD sort of naturally did that (she finished nursing within 5 minutes on one side and never really wanted/needed more until the next feeding, but she also never had green poo...). The poo has looked normal since...

I do feel bad for my little guy needing to burp so much, though, and for the coughing/sputtering. It's funny, though - I don't have the firehose thing like I did with DD, where when she pulled off my milk would spray like 3 feet away, so I figured my supply was less.

[catchthewind]

I could be way off and remembering wrong (I haven't read anything about it since before DD1 was born and we were debating whether to decline), but isn't the erythromycin to prevent infection from Chlamydia or some other STD? I don't think it could have anything to do with crusty eyes one way or the other. Regardless, DD1 had crusty eyes for weeks, until a German midwife who was visiting gave me some homeopathic for her and the eyes cleared the next day. /shrug Breastmilk did seem to help too though. DD2 has had no crusty eyes at all. Neither of them had erythromycin when they were born. One big difference is we are mostly dairy free now because DD1 has a dairy allergy, and DD2 probably does too. (My husband's also allergic, and I was as a kid and may be mildly now too.) Don't know if the dairy would have had anything to do with DD1's crusty eyes though.

[mamacatsbaby]

Just a quick post on OAL/OS: I've block-fed (4-8 hours) both my kids and the massive OS was under control pretty quickly. With DS1 with the OAL I'd put him on the breast, wait 'til letdown, pop him off, then let the milk run into a cup and put him back on. DS2 seems to handle the OAL fine for the most part.

Hope everyone is doing well today! Gotta run!

ETA: And I know I've read that BF babies don't really need to be burped but that's just not true for my kids! DS2 would have way more tummy issues if I didn't burp him periodically while we're nursing.